The Centre for Economics and Public Policy (CEPP) is pleased to invite you for the screening of two documentaries on Wednesday, 15th February at VKS 001 from 2:15 to 4:00 pm.

1. (Un)Homely City (23 minutes)
What's the difference between a house and a home? What did "stay at home" mean for the city's houseless when the pandemic struck the country and we were forced into a short-notice lockdown? People from the houseless population in Mumbai speak about their experiences with local government officials and policies and ask about their rights as citizens of India, citizens of Mumbai to claim a space as their home on the footpath. The questions linger with us as we struggle to find adequate answers for the houseless community as they navigate their way through the pandemic.

2. Sagarputra: Offspring of the Sea (20 minutes)
What does it mean to live in the city and yet live amidst wetness? We explore this question through the experiences of Mumbai's indigenous fishing community, the Kolis, that live amidst the wetness of the Thane Creek, Arabian Sea and Ulhas River and the expanding concrete of Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.

The film is framed as a juxtaposition, the story of two cities, two Mumbais, that are entangled in a dynamic tension. The first city is a knowledge and experience of Mumbai of the sea, that comes from living according to the rhythm of rising and falling water levels, where temporality in the Koli's fishing practice is deeply connected to temporality in land use. This informs Koli's relations with sea and land that transcends the fixity and claims associated with property ownership. The second city is an experience of Mumbai that emerges from Koli's encounters with the terrestrial, propertied city, one driven by the imperatives of capitalism.

About the filmmakers

Pooja Das Sarkar is a writer and filmmaker who completed her master's in English Literature from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She has also trained as a documentary filmmaker at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and in narrative filmmaking at the Prague Film School. She has been associated with making documentaries, narrative commercials and short films for the last decade. In her previous capacity as creative director, she has made films which have been awarded and screened at international film festivals and shown on national television channels. Pooja co-founded the agency and production house Jolt Media in 2016 where she makes films on a range of sociopolitical issues and specializes in communication for non-profits. Her film (Un)Homely City was recently screened at the Kolkata People’s Film Festival.

Vimal Mylon is a multidisciplinary artist with a background in music production, video production, cinematography, photography and sound design. He co-founded Jolt Media in 2016 and has been a part of award-winning documentaries and short films. His last film (Un)Homely City was screened at the Kolkata People’s Film Festival, in 2023. Vimal lives in Mumbai with his plants.